I 



VIGNA CATIANG, Endl' 



[Vide Plates XXIX. and XXX.] 



Description. 



Varieties. 



Area. 



Mixtures. 



Season. 

 Outturn. 



English, none ; Veknaculae, lobia, rawas, rausa, sonta. 



Natural order Leguminosce, sub-order Papilionacece, tribe Phaseoleoe. A smooth climbing or 

 sometimes sub-erect herb. Leaves trifoliolate ; stipules inserted above the base, ovate, acute at both 

 ends ; petioles about as long as the leaflets, deeply channelled ; stipels roundish ; leaflets 3-6 in. 

 long, rhomboid ovate, variable in breadth. Flowers in clusters at the summit of the peduncle ; 

 peduncles axillary, usually exceeding the leaves, bearing at the summit a few (3-6) shortly pedicelled 

 flowers. Calyx teeth lanceolate or deltoid, cuspidate. Corolla twice as long as the calyx ; standard 

 pale blue or reddish purple inside, and yellowish at the back ; keel truncate, whitish. Stamens 

 diadelphous. Style filiform, bearded on the inner face. Pod long, nearly straight, many-seeded, 

 torulose. Seeds 10-20, white, brown or black. 



Lobia has a strong superficial resemblance to mun^ and 'drd,\ but may be easily 

 distinguished from them by the possession of reddish purple instead of yellow flowers, 

 and by its foliage being glabrous or destitute of the hairs which thickly cover the stalks 

 and leaves of the two other pulses. It is as a rule grown for its grain, and forms like 

 urd and miing a humble associate of the kharif millets. A variety with very long pods 

 is cultivated by market gardeners as a vegetable. Its pods are picked while green, and 

 take, but very unworthily, the place occupied by French beans in European cookery. 

 The seeds like those of miing and urd vary considerably in colour, the white kind being 

 considered the best. 



It is less frequently grown as a sole crop than either mung or urd, and the area 

 which it occupies by itself is quite insignificant except in the Rohilkhand Division, 

 where it amounts to about 5,000 acres. On the other hand it forms portions of the 

 undergrowth in a large proportion of kharif millet and cotton fields, with which it is 

 sown at the commencement of the rains. It ripens in October or November, and yields 

 a produce of about the same quantity as that of urd. Its grain is less valued than that 

 of urd or mung, being difficult of digestion, and apt, according to native ideas, to 

 generate heat in the stomach. The leaves and stems are used as cattle fodder. 



Exjplanation of Plate XXIX. 



3. Flower with calyx and corolla romoved, \ 



1. Cluster of ripe pods, (nat. size.) 



2. Single pod with one valve partially removed and 



exposing the seeds, (nat. size.) 



with keel and one wing petal ^ 



removed, 

 seen &om behind. 



enlarged. 



Explanation of Plate XXX. 



1. 



Single pod with one valve partially removed and i 3, 



exposing the seeds, (nat. size.) 4. ^ As in preceding Plate. 



2. Cluster of pods, (nat. size.) | 5. 



The above Plates are from drawings of living specimens gathered near Saharanpur. 



* References :— Hook. ri. Ind. ii. 205 -, Gaz, N,-W, P, Vol. X. page 695 ; Ind, Forester Vol. ix. (1883) p. 203. Dolichos 

 Catiang, Linn. ; Roxb. Fl. Ind. iii. 303. B. sinensis, Linn. ; Roxb. Fl. Ind. iiL 302 ; W. & A. Prod. 250 ; Baden-Powell 

 Punj. Prod. 241; Drury Useful PI. of Ind. 186. 



t See pages 37 and 39 of Part L 



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